The effects of the offender's race, ethnicity, and sex on federal sentencing outcomes in the guidelines era

Law and Contemporary Problems

Volumn 76, Issue 1, 2013, Pages 75-104

  Spohn, Cassia ^a  

^a ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

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EID: 84876024585     PISSN: 00239186     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (64)

1. See, e.g., Theodore G. Chiricos & Charles Crawford, Race and Imprisonment: A Contextual Assessment of the Evidence, in ETHNICITY, RACE, AND CRIME: PERSPECTIVES ACROSS TIME AND PLACE 281 (Darnell Felix Hawkins ed., 1995).
2. Cassia Spohn, Thirty Years of Sentencing Reform: The Quest for a Racially-Neutral Sentencing Process, in 3 POLICIES, PROCESSES, AND DECISIONS OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM 427 (Julie Horney ed., 2000).
3. Marjorie S. Zatz, The Changing Forms of Racial/Ethnic Biases in Sentencing, 24 J. RES. CRIME & DELINQ. 69, 69 (1987).
4. See, e.g., Celesta A. Albonetti, The Joint Conditioning Effect of Defendant's Gender and Ethnicity on Length of Imprisonment Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Drug Trafficking/Manufacturing Offenders, 6 J. GENDER RACE & JUST. 39 (2002) [hereinafter Albonetti, The Joint Conditioning Effect].
5. Celesta A. Albonetti, Sentencing Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines: Effects of Defendant Characteristics, Guilty Pleas, and Departures on Sentence Outcomes for Drug Offenses, 1991-1992, 31 LAW & SOC'Y REV. 789 (1997) [hereinafter Albonetti, Sentencing Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines].
6. Chandra D. LaFrentz & Cassia Spohn, Who Is Punished More Harshly? An Examination of Race/Ethnicity, Gender, Age and Employment Status Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, JUST. RES. & POL'Y, Fall 2006, at 25.
7. Tracy Nobiling, Cassia Spohn & Miriam DeLone, A Tale of Two Counties: Unemployment and Sentence Severity, 15 JUST. Q. 459 (1998).
8. Cassia Spohn & David Holleran, The Imprisonment Penalty Paid by Young, Unemployed Black and Hispanic Male Offenders, 38 CRIMINOLOGY 281 (2000)
9. Ann Martin Stacey & Cassia Spohn, Gender and the Social Costs of Sentencing: An Analysis of Sentences Imposed on Male and Female Offenders in Three U.S. District Courts, 11 BERKELEY J. CRIM. L. 43 (2006).
10. Sara Steen, Rodney L. Engen & Randy R. Gainey, Images of Danger and Culpability: Racial Stereotyping, Case Processing and Criminal Sentencing, 43 CRIMINOLOGY 435 (2005).
11. Darrel Steffensmeier, Jeffery Ulmer & John Kramer, The Interaction of Race, Gender, and Age in Criminal Sentencing: The Punishment Cost of Being Young, Black, and Male, 36 CRIMINOLOGY 763 (1998)
12. See Pauline K. Brennan & Cassia Spohn, The Joint Effects of Offender Race/Ethnicity and Sex on Sentence Length Decisions in Federal Courts, 1 RACE & SOC. PROBS. 200, 213 (2009).
13. Cassia Spohn, Race, Sex and Pretrial Detention in Federal Court: Indirect Effects and Cumulative Disadvantage, 57 U. KAN. L. REV. 879 (2009).
14. David B. Mustard, Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Disparities in Sentencing: Evidence From the U.S. Federal Courts, 44 J.L. & ECON. 285 (2001).
15. Darrel Steffensmeier & Stephen Demuth, Ethnicity and Sentencing Outcomes in U.S. Federal Courts: Who is Punished More Harshly?, 65 AM. SOC. REV. 705 (2000).
16. U.S. SENTENCING GUIDELINES MANUAL ch. 5, pt. A (2011).
17. KATE STITH & JOSÉ A. CABRANES, FEAR OF JUDGING: SENTENCING GUIDELINES IN THE FEDERAL COURTS 83 (1998).
18. See also MICHAEL H. TONRY, SENTENCING MATTERS (1996).
19. George W. Heaney, The Reality of Guidelines Sentencing: No End to Disparity, 28 AM. CRIM. L. REV. 161 (1991).
20. In 2005, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the federal guidelines are advisory, rather than mandatory. Although judges must still take into account the recommended guideline range for each offender, they are not bound to impose a sentence within that range. United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 264 (2005).
21. 18 U.S.C. § 3553(b)(1) (2006).
22. U. S. SENTENCING GUIDELINES MANUAL § 5H, introductory cmt. (2011).
23. U.S. SENTENCING GUIDELINES MANUAL § 5K.1.1 (2011) ("Upon motion of the government stating that the defendant has provided substantial assistance in the investigation or prosecution of another person who has committed an offense, the court may depart from the guidelines.").
24. 18 U.S.C. § 3553(e) (2006).
25. See, e.g., John H. Kramer & Jeffery T. Ulmer, Sentencing Disparity and Departures from Guidelines, 13 JUST. Q. 81 (1996).
26. Ilene H. Nagel & Stephen J. Schulhofer, A Tale of Three Cities: An Empirical Study of Charging and Bargaining Practices Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, 66 S. CAL. L. REV. 501, 554-57 (1992).
27. 18 U.S.C. § 3142(e) (2006).
28. 18 U.S.C. § 3142(b).
29. 18 U.S.C. § 3142(g)(1)-(4).
30. 18 U.S.C. § 3142(g)(3).
31. 18 U.S.C. § 3142(g)(3)(B).
32. There is, on the other hand, a large body of research examining bail and pretrial detention decisions in state courts
33. See, e.g., Celesta A. Albonetti, Robert M. Hauser, John Hagan & Ilene H. Nagel, Criminal Justice Decision Making as a Stratification Process: The Role of Race and Stratification Resources in Pretrial Release, 5 J. QUANTITATIVE CRIMINOLOGY 57 (1989).
34. Stephen Demuth, Racial and Ethnic Differences in Pretrial Release Decisions and Outcomes: A Comparison of Hispanic, Black, and White Felony Arrestees, 41 CRIMINOLOGY 873 (2003)
35. Charles M. Katz & Cassia Spohn, The Effect of Race and Gender on Bail Outcomes: A Test of an Interactive Model, 19 AM. J. CRIM. JUST. 161 (1995).
36. Traci Schlesinger, Racial and Ethnic Disparity in Pretrial Criminal Processing, 22 JUST. Q. 170 (2005).
37. See also Cassia Spohn & Steven Belenko, Do the Drugs, Do the Time? The Effect of Drug Abuse on Offenders Sentenced in Three U.S. District Courts, 40 CRIM. JUST. & BEHAV. (forthcoming 2013).
38. See, e.g., Brian D. Johnson & Sara Betsinger, Punishing the "Model Minority": Asian-American Criminal Sentencing Outcomes in Federal District Courts, 47 CRIMINOLOGY 1045, 1066 (2009).
39. Jeffery T. Ulmer, James Eisenstein & Brian D. Johnson, Trial Penalties in Federal Sentencing: Extra-Guidelines Factors and District Variation, 27 JUST. Q. 560, 577 (2010).
40. Cassia Spohn & Robert Fornango, U.S. Attorneys and Substantial Assistance Departures: Testing for Interprosecutor Disparity, 47 CRIMINOLOGY 813, 827 (2009).
41. See, e.g., Ronald S. Everett & Roger A. Wojtkiewicz, Difference, Disparity, and Race/Ethnic Bias in Federal Sentencing, 18 J. QUANTITATIVE CRIMINOLOGY 189, 206-07 (2002).
42. Richard D. Hartley, Sean Maddan & Cassia C. Spohn, Prosecutorial Discretion: An Examination of Substantial Assistance Departures in Federal Crack-Cocaine and Powder-Cocaine Cases, 24 JUST. Q. 382 (2007).
43. Brian D. Johnson, Jeffery T. Ulmer & John H. Kramer, The Social Context of Guidelines Circumvention: The Case of Federal District Courts, 46 CRIMINOLOGY 737 (2008).
44. Kimberly Kempf-Leonard & Lisa L. Sample, Have the Federal Sentencing Guidelines Reduced Severity? An Examination of One Circuit, 17 J. QUANTITATIVE CRIMINOLOGY 111, 117-20 (2001).
45. LINDA DRAZGA MAXFIELD & JOHN KRAMER, SUBSTANTIAL ASSISTANCE: AN EMPIRICAL YARDSTICK GAUGING EQUITY IN CURRENT FEDERAL POLICY AND PRACTICE 14, 19 (1998)
46. Cassia Spohn, Sentencing Decisions in Three U.S. District Courts: Testing the Assumption of Uniformity in the Federal Sentencing Process, JUST. RES. & POL'Y, Fall 2005, at 1.
47. Jeffery T. Ulmer, The Localized Uses of Federal Sentencing Guidelines in Four U.S. District Courts: Evidence of Processual Order, 28 SYMBOLIC INTERACTION 255 (2005).
48. U.S. SENTENCING COMM'N, FIFTEEN YEARS OF GUIDELINES SENTENCING: AN ASSESSMENT OF HOW WELL THE FEDERAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM IS ACHIEVING THE GOALS OF SENTENCING REFORM (2004).
49. See also Chantale Lacasse & A. Abigail Payne, Federal Sentencing Guidelines and Mandatory Minimum Sentences: Do Defendants Bargain in the Shadow of the Judge? 42 J.L. & ECON. 245, 252-53 (1999) (finding differences in two district courts)
50. U.S. SENTECING COMMISSION MANUAL ch. 1, pt. (A)(3) (2011).
51. Lisa Pasko, Villain or Victim: Regional Variation and Ethnic Disparity in Federal Drug Offense Sentencing, 13 CRIM. JUST. POL'Y REV. 307, 314 (2002).
52. Cassia Spohn & Pauline K. Brennan, The Joint Effects of Offender Race/Ethnicity and Gender on Substantial Assistance Departures in Federal Courts, 1 RACE & JUST. 48, 64-65 (2011) (finding that offender sex affected substantial assistance departures for black offenders and Hispanic offedners but not for white offenders).
53. Darnell F. Hawkins, Causal Attribution and Punishment for Crime, 2 DEVIANT BEHAVIOR 207, 208 (1981).
54. See also, George S. Bridges & Sara Steen, Racial Disparities in Official Assessments of Juvenile Offenders: Attributional Stereotypes as Mediating Mechanisms, 63 AM. SOC. REV. 554 (1998).
55. See, e.g., Paul J. Hofer, Kevin R. Blackwell & R. Barry Ruback, The Effect of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines on Inter-Judge Sentencing Disparity, 90 J. CRIM. L. & CRIMINOLOGY 239, 287 (1999).
56. Paula M. Kautt, Location, Location, Location: Interdistrict and Intercircuit Variation in Sentencing Outcomes for Federal Drug-Trafficking Offenses, 19 JUST. Q. 633, 653 (2002).
57. Charles D. Weisselberg & Terence Dunworth, Inter-District Variation Under the Guidelines: The Trees May Be More Significant Than the Forest, 6 FED. SENT'G REP. 25, 27 (1993).
58. There were only thirty-three offenders convicted of drug-trafficking offenses who were not sentenced to prison; therefore, I do not model the likelihood of a prison sentence
59. Further analysis revealed that many offenders had a history of using more than one type of drug and that some were under the influence of more than one drug at the time of the crime. The most common type of drug that offenders had ever used was powder cocaine (61.1% of offenders had used this drug), followed by methamphetamine (44.6%), crack cocaine (20.3%), and heroin (7.4%). About one third (31.1%) of the offenders reported that they were under the influence of methamphetamine at the time of crime and one fourth (24.5%) reported being under the influence of powder cocaine. In contrast, very few offenders reported being under the influence of either crack cocaine (7.7%) or heroin (1.6%) at the time of the crime.
60. Rodney L. Engen & Randy R. Gainey, Modeling the Effects of Legally Relevant and Extralegal Factors Under Sentencing Guidelines: The Rules Have Changed, 38 CRIMINOLOGY 1207, 1209 (2000).
61. The safety valve provision requires the court to impose a sentence pursuant to the guidelines without regard to any statutory minimum sentences in cases in which the defendant does not have more than one criminal history point and did not use violence or credible threats of violence or possess a firearm or other dangerous weapon in connection with the offense
62. Figures 1 and 2 are graphical representations of the direct and indirect ways in which race, ethnicity, and sex affect case outcomes. They do not represent results obtained from a formal path analysis or from structural equation modeling.
63. The author of this paper conducted all of these interviews. They were face-to-face interviews using a standard set of open-ended questions. Information gleaned from the interviews is on file with the author.
64. Steven Spitzer, Toward a Marxian Theory of Deviance, 22 SOC. PROBS. 638, 645 (1975).